


Reflection

by Sakura0617



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-05 00:17:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15852372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sakura0617/pseuds/Sakura0617
Summary: "That night Natsume had a dream that he was staring into a mirror, before he could see his reflection he woke up."





	Reflection

“I wouldn’t touch that if I were you.”

Natori stepped out from behind a shadow somewhere Natsume couldn’t see. There was something therapeutic yet slightly terrifying about cleaning out storage rooms, particularly attics, where memories and dust had been collecting, for possibly eons. That warning had been directly towards a small, somewhat unassuming mirror. 

“It’s said that mirror has existed since before even the youkai can recall. As you can probably imagine, it’s garnered quite the history.”

Natsume thought he caught a hint of amusement, not surprise, behind Natori’s voice. Natsume regarded the object in his hand with a languid interest. It was a subtle habit of Natsume’s not to question the bizarre, it seemed to Natsume that he felt at home with things that existed beyond the normal eye, sometimes more so than in the human world. Natsume wondered at times if Natori felt the same. Then again mirrors had never been a favorite of Natsume’s. 

“Putting it away already? You’re not the least bit curious about the mystery surrounding it?”  
It was a very Natori-like thing to say, whether or not it was intentional Natsume could never figure out. 

Natsume found himself saying before he could realize, “Let it stay a mystery for a bit longer, won’t hurt anyone.”

When he was younger there had been a mirror in the guest room where he had stayed. It had unnerved him a bit at night, its shadowy reflections had felt perhaps bit too vivid. Nyanko sensei had lightly dismissed his reluctance towards mirrors, anything that perfectly reflected sensei’s magnificent plump figure was a favor, as far as he was concerned. When Natsume broke out of his little reverie, he looked up, only to find that Natori had left, and there was an empty space where his figure had been. 

That night Natsume had a dream that he was staring into a mirror, before he could see his reflection he woke up. 

When Natsume was younger, he never understood the reason for mirrors. Why people needed to look into them so often, as if they didn’t already know what they looked like. His younger self had known all too well what he would see. So instead of looking in mirrors, he saw the pale ghostly impressions of youkai that confirmed his fear, pain, and frustration. 

But as he grew Natsume met more people, and the scope of his field gradually widened. It was on a rainy Sunday when he met the Fujiwara family, and on a sunny Monday his new classmates. When Natsume saw Nyanko sensei, he felt as if he had known him all his life. Natsume had considered himself lucky, since then his fortune only deepened.

It was on a Wednesday when Natsume woke to warm touch of sunlight across his face. Breakfast, classes, and routine, they passed like clouds passing in the sky. After dinner, he caught Toukou with her compact mirror in hand. She looked into it as she looked all things around her, with a simple intensity. In that moment Natsume felt he could see a different reason, for mirrors. Perhaps, a person looked into the mirror for change. So that one day, if they worked hard enough, what they see looking back at them would be different, something in the shape of happiness. 

The next day Natsume found the youkai mirror on a dresser beside his bed. When he looked into it he saw clearly, not what he was expecting to see, but his reflection as it had always been.

**Author's Note:**

> I dunno why I like to write about mirrors, but anyways hope you like~ Also, Natori kind of made an appearance, so yay another character x'D


End file.
